NEW YORK - Online travel company Priceline.com Friday said yes to a $2.6 billion cash deal to buy OpenTable, the restaurant booking site that offers reservations in more than 31,000 restaurants across the continents.

According to the agreed terms for the deal, Priceline will pay $103 a share in a cash transaction. It is a 46 percent premium over the restaurant booking platform's closing price Thursday.

"OpenTable is a great match for The Priceline Group. They provide us with a natural extension into restaurant marketing services and a wonderful and highly-valued booking experience for our global customers," said Priceline CEO Darren Huston in a statement.

Huston said that the company is optimistic about the deal's prospectus to speed up OpenTable's global growth.

He said acquiring OpenTable had long been of Priceline's interest. "For us, it's a really natural extension a lot of what we do day to day is very similar."

OpenTable's stock soared 47 percent to $103.42 in premarket trading before the market opened on Friday.

The service is currently available across the United States and 18 other countries across the continents. Priceline's bookings.com is a leading travel site in Europe.

The Priceline Group claimed it is the world's leading accommodation booking platform as every night, an average of more than one million guests stay in accommodations booked through one of The Priceline Group brands in over 480,000 properties spread over 200 countries and territories worldwide.

OpenTable, according to the companies, will operate as an independent business led by its current management team within The Priceline Group out of its offices in San Francisco.

The restaurant reservation site says it seats more than 15 million diners each month at 31,000 restaurants.

The chief executive of OpenTable, Matt Roberts, said in a statement: "We couldn't be more excited to join a group of brands leading in their space, and we look forward to the next chapter of our own journey as we continue to enhance the dining experience for our customers worldwide."

"The Priceline Group is a leader in e-commerce innovation with global expertise in online marketing and digital customer conversion across devices, and they have an exceptional track record of customer service in dozens of languages around the world."

The deal is expected to close by the end of September.